The Chosen Ed
by Ryker Rohrer
Summary: Edd or as he is known as Nex the elusive hacker has been searching for a man known as the Reaper the worlds best hacker. Unknown to him is that Reaper was also looking for him. Edd is thrown in a world of peril as he learns the truth about his life and his destiny to be. Face with this truth Edd must now decide if he will rise to save Zion and all humanity or perish with them.
1. Prologue: War never dies

_**Prologue**_

 _ **War never dies**_

 _It's my descent, a familiar pain  
Of watching all I believed fade away_

Of traitors and fools  
Of beggars and thieves  
Which mask will you choose?  
What is underneath?

I never wanted you to see  
The darkest part of me  
I knew you'd run away  
I waited but you never came

The music blasted hard in Reaper's ears as his cold steel blue eye's looked at the green code make its way down the screen in front of him. The room he currently sat in was part of the Matrix's finest slums, it was at one time an two room apartment that could have been a nice place to live. Time however was not kind, even in a world controlled by machines, now it was just a shabby room, the walls busted through revealing the old wood beneath, old floral wallpaper hanging everywhere. The illusion was brought together by the bricked up window in the corner and an old torn rug that lay underneath the old metal card table in which supported the laptop Reaper was typing on. All in all some would find it a disgusting, rat infested pest hole, but ones pest hole was another persons perfect spot to hack without drawing too much attention. Reaper blew a puff of smoke from his mouth and nostrils as he dragged on a cigarette, his fingers worked the keyboard like a fine masseuse, his eye's darted back and forth.

To the untrained eye the screen was just a scrabble of numerical based script you would find behind a program, but it was more then that, in fact it was like a watching a security feed but ten times better and more effective. What it told him was that the building he was in was still empty and void of life, which at this crucial point was extraordinary. Ever since the war had started again between Zion and the machine world, it had grown increasingly harder to find secure locations to work from within the network. For years they had secretly rebuilt their way in the Matrix, rebuilt their armies just in case a day ever came when the fragile piece broke, new programs were implemented to improve hackers whom entered the Matrix. They had increased their technological abilities ten fold, but as the saying goes great minds think alike, it was never thought that the machines would do the same exact thing.

Everything in the Matrix was different now from when the war ended fifty years ago, everything was upgraded and that included the sentinel programs that protected the system. After the incident with Neo, unknown to either side, both had begun to manipulate the Matrix code, to make it work better for themselves. The machines has implemented a system into the Sentinels which allowed them to bend and break the rules of the Matrix world very much like Neo did, they were stronger, faster, smarter, and fifty times more lethal then they ever were before. But the humans had done the exact same thing, hackers were retrained in a new way, a way that too was inspired by Neo, to be able to break those same rules, the unfortunate truth was though that the machines had a better advantage and most of the hackers who undertook the training were unable to complete it. There were very few who understood how Neo could do the things he did, and the ones who did knew of the code within him that gave him his abilities realized it was too complex to duplicate fully. So most who took the training lost their minds from the mental strain. In the end only specialized nuero patterns that could handle the mental strain were capable of completing the training and that was very few.

It was these few who became Elite Hackers, a small group of men and woman capable of manipulating the code from within the Matrix itself. But even then that was not enough, the machines had advanced too far ahead, and they had the advantage which lead to many deaths but also lead to technological advancement from the human side. There were not enough Elite Hackers to take on the sentinels within the Matrix so if they could not make more Elite Hackers then they would make a way for others to combat the sentinels and live, and this came in the form of device attached to the wrist. The device was in basic terms a virus within the system that was capable of altering the code, within the Matrix itself it was a digital keypad on your arm, you could input commands which could alter the Matrix code around you in small ways. The device's only main drawback was that it had rules which lined up with the rules of the Matrix, or in other words you could not just make a gun appear out of thin air however it could take out a staircase or form a wall between you and a sentinel and various other things within the realm of the Matrix. With this new technology humans had the capability to fight back against the sentinels all be it indirect, but none the less it kept them alive more or less.

For the first five years this was enough the humans had begun to release minds from the Matrix again like before, to free the minds still trapped within the Matrix. But when it rains it pours is how the saying goes, it was within the sixth year of the war with the machines that Zion started to divide and it came in the form of a man whom was released from the Matrix, a man whom apparently had a special ability, an ability that enabled him to see the future or so he said. This same man was the one who drove Zion apart when he spoke of another whom would be called the Chosen one. Many were outraged at the mere mention of it, for many knew of the meeting between Neo and the Architect a story of legend passed down since the end of the war. Many wanted to execute the man who claimed to have the abilities very much of the Oracle and others fearing the machines joined him. This was how the group known as the Neolites began, a group dedicated to the belief that another chosen one would arise and come to end the war like Neo did fifty years ago. But with the formation of this group a second group formed to combat them, they held the belief that there would be no chosen one and believed in the ideals Jason Locke held, that the only way to win the war was through the strength of the real world and not some mythical being. This group became known as the Lockes, these two groups leads to the final group which arose due to the power struggle within Zion. The final group was for those who did not hold the beliefs of either the Neolites or the Lockes, a group who believed only in ending the war if it was to be one way or the other.

This group had no name as they were more or less the people who refused to join either side. Ten more years passed and Zion was in a constant but peaceful struggle between beliefs, that was when the one and only Oracle stepped forth again and reached out to us and that was when everything changed. She alone spoke of one within the Matrix, one born in the system itself whom would be the one who could end the conflict between the machines and man, a person with special abilities that were not a code implanted by the machines. With this information Zion was thrown into an upheaval the Neolites feeling vindicated pushed for the finding of this person and the Lockes pushed harder to not waste resources on myth and this alone almost caused a war from within. It was in the end decided to avert losing men and woman in a pointless struggle that one final group would be formed, a group comprised of men and woman from both sides combined with ones who held no sway one way or to other and this group alone would search for the chosen one. The leader of this group, the same man the Oracle approached would be the one who would become the leader and deem this group The Chosen. It has been another three years since that time and none have located the new Chosen one, times are becoming dire and the machines are pushing harder then ever before to destroy Zion. An this is what lead the man known by his hacker alias Reaper to be sitting in this slummy room at this exact moment.

"Captain you have company, NYPD, three units advancing quickly, approximately seven men all armed."

The voice came through the music in Reapers ear as he typed into the laptop in front of himself, the screen suddenly changed to a different sent of codes. Reaper raised his wrist silently, sliding up the lid on the device on his wrist he typed into the keypad a randomized code of various numerical values. With the press of send the door behind Reaper suddenly changed from and old wooden door to a steel framed door.

"I got it Tracer, the program is nearly implemented and we should have results in another couple minutes. Do you spot any Agents in the area?"

"No Captain but we received a distress call from an unknown source code to the NYPD so you can pretty much guess they will be showing up soon."

"Keep your eye's open Tracer and keep me informed, the Agents have been able to avoid detection recently so I don't want any unneeded surprises."

"You got it Captain stay frosty."

Reaper heard the steel door behind him thump with rather surprised yelp of pain, Reaper smiled to himself, they had not been expecting the door to be steel lined and it was rather funny as hell. It would take them another couple moments to get the door opened, or at least that long to bring up the battering ram so the program could run its search perimeters first. Reaper sighed heavily as he put his hand through his black short cropped hair, he never imagined his life would lead him to this point. Sitting in a room running a trace program for a person for all he knows doesn't even exist, the same person who is suppose to save Zion from complete destruction with some kind of special powers. Across the room there was a broken mirror, he looked in from the chair, he saw flecks of himself in it, he was decked out in full black from head to toe, a pair of military style steel tipped boots, black cargo's, a leather belt, black t-shirt covered by a leather coat and complimented with sunglasses to cover part of the scar that ran down his face, well the scar would be there on the outside world but in here it was just a perfect face.

Once he had been a rather care free happy guy, always wore bright colors, a looker at that who could get any girl he wanted, his wavy black hair covering a smooth face. Then just like that it all changed as if in a day. He had been a hacker, a damn good hacker at that, he was one of the elites or as elite as one could be in a virtual machine world. He had been approached by a stranger, a well dressed stranger whom had been looking him. He told him things, things that made no sense and then at the same time it made perfect sense. The truth was Reaper felt like he did not belong in the world, he was alone and often times more the not felt as if he was in some sort of dream that he could never wake up from, amazing how he was not far off from the truth of it all. When he saw the world for the first time, the real world, it was a nightmare as much as it was a relief, to know that everything was just a lie, all of it just a big lie. At the same time he was free, free to decide his own fate and that alone was worth it, to make it to where he was now.

Reaper slowly turned his attention back to the screen, there was an electronic ping as the program finished its trace just as the door behind him resounded with a loud bang of metal against metal. Looks like the police got their battering ram finally, Reaper ignored the door and typed into the keyboard, the line of code quickly speed up his eye's darted back and forth as he typed in a couple of commands and sent the data back to his ship.

"Tracer the data is transferring in now, I think we may have something so send it to Whiz and start compiling it immediately."

"You got it Captain, we have activity outside sir, a black car just pulled up I think you might have company... shit, we have definite Agents on the scene, two Agents sir you might want to get out of there."

Just as Tracer finished speaking the door behind Reaper was busted open as seven men quickly poured into the room. The one in the lead quickly screamed for Reaper to stand and put his hands up, Reaper silently complied as he stood up he looked at the screen the code showed him the officers like a video camera.

"Sergeant I thought I told you to create a perimeter and wait for us to arrive. You were under no circumstances to approach the building."

Agent Campbell was precise and cold as he looked at the human Sergeant with a certain disdain. He looked up silently at the building before him, inside was one of the Elite Hackers from Zion and if he didn't know they knew of his location then he definitely did now thanks to this pathetic human.

"Oh please Campbell, were not boy scouts I think we can handle this without your special help. I already have three units up there and they are no doubt bringing down the suspect as we speak."

Agent Campbell was silent as he passed by the man with the second Agent in toe, he looked at the door of the building silently as he stood on the stairs, almost like he was seeing something the no one else could.

"Your men are already dead Sergeant."

Campbell spoke the words coldly and emotionless as he entered the building leaving the Sergeant confused and addled.

Reaper was silent as the officer approached him with the cuffs, he played the scared suspect for just another moment longer. The sudden turn of his body was damn near unseeable as he drove his fist into the police officers face. Time slowed down to a bare trickle as the officers face dented in slowly, with another solid blow Reaper kicked the officer with a round house kick. Time seemed to speed back up as the officer flew back and hit into four other officers knocking them to the ground hard. The two remaining officers quickly opened fire, Reaper put his hand up as the bullets all came to a halting stop slowly before him. The officers looked on in disbelief as the other officers finally got back to their feet raising their own guns. The bullets in mid air in front of Reaper suddenly turned and pointed towards the officers, As if being shot again from another gun the bullets gained momentum again and slammed into the other officers. All the officers fell simultaneously to the floor dead before they even hit, Reaper silently raised his wrist as he typed in a command to the device. Looking up the two Agents slowly entered the room, the one he recognized, he was known only as Agent Campbell, the leader of the Sentinels and the other his lackey whom had no name.

"Well, well, Campbell its always nice to see you again, you have to admit that using the cops as puppets is rather smart, they are rather easy to spot so your arrival was more then predictable."

"You will not make it out this time Mr. Seeley."

"Never say never Campbell, and I am sure I have said this before but my name is... Reaper."

Reaper finished his sentence as he pressed the send button on the device on his wrist, there was a sudden loud cracking as the floor suddenly broke and gave away beneath the Agents feet, both of them quickly disappeared below, Reaper went to turn when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Campbell suddenly flung himself back through the hole not even seconds after he disappeared.

"Not this time."

Reaper smiled as spoke the last words in a jokingly way towards Campbell.

"Catch me if you can."

Reaper turned and quickly jumped through the nearby window, the bricks gave away like wall paper as he dove through. The window then quickly rebuilt itself back up with bricks. Agent Campbell walked forward as he put his hand forward, he touched the bricks, they were now very real.

"So be it Mr. Seeley."

He's a stranger to some  
And a vision to none  
He can never get enough,  
Get enough of the one

For a fortune he'd quit  
But it's hard to admit  
How it ends and begins  
On his face is a map of the world  
(A map of the world)  
On his face is a map of the world  
(A map of the world)  
From yesterday, it's coming!  
From yesterday, the fear!  
From yesterday, it calls him  
But he doesn't want to read the message here

Nex was silent as he leaned back in the old computer chair listening to the music, his feet were propped up in front of him as the numerous computer screens flashed various different programs. Reaching up Nex pulled his black signature ski cap down over his emerald green eye's and then crossed his arms getting comfortable in the chair. The room around him was a complete mess, a mix of old clothes, take out boxes, empty bottles and various electronics scattered over the scarce bit of furniture. To those who knew him this was a normal thing for Nex to those who truly knew him they would be shocked, in fact when he was a tad bit younger he was what some considered an obsessive neat freak, even to the point where he labeled items in alphabetical order. But time did tend to change people and the man once known as a geeky little nothing called Edd was now one of the world top hackers.

"Requesting all units we have a 10-80 in progress need immediate assistance in apprehension of known cyber terrorist Dante Seeley over. 10-4 dispatch over."

Nex's eye's shot open immediately at the name on the CB radio, quickly leaning up Nex pulled the ski cap back and quickly pulled himself to the keyboard in front of himself. With a keystrokes he pulled up the NYPD database and quickly hacked in, in a few keystrokes he pulled up the camera's within the squad cars all around the city. His eye's were going back and forth going through the feeds, his heart was beating fast, Reaper was here the man he had been looking for now for months, the best hacker in the known world. Nex typed furiously on his keyboard, he quickly pulled up a grid of the streets, another screen lite up with security feed from street camera's. Moments later there was a red blip on the screen and then various others came online one after another.

"I got him that has to be it!"

Nex spoke the words to himself excitedly as he got himself a street view, on the screen he watched a black sedan flashed by the camera soon followed by many various cop cars. Nex turned to another screen as he quickly typed on the keyboard, a live new report suddenly hit the screen.

"We have confirmation now that a citywide chase is underway tonight as known Cyber Terrorist Dante Seeley or Reaper as he is known by was earlier located in an abandoned apartment complex on Bay street. It has been reported that seven police officers died in the confrontation and the Seeley is now in a stolen vehicle racing throughout the city. Keeping you updated and bringing you more on this breaking story after this short break."

"All units, all units, air support is on route."

Nex heard the dispatch as he quickly turned to another screen and started typing at lightening speed, screens flashed past quickly. With another few keystrokes Nex looked at the grid, it all of a sudden lite up like a Christmas tree.

"Dispatch there is something wrong with our tracking and navigation, suspect is pulling away, we need eye's on him from the sky, over."

Nex gave a chuckle as he typed a few more commands and quickly intercepted the message meant for the air support. With another couple keystrokes he locked in the vehicles transponder and took the mic from the CB radio and spoke:

"Air unit 34, air unit 34, suspect is heading down Franklin Avenue, over. Roger that dispatch, over."

Nex grinned to himself as he kept typing away on the keyboard, the sudden black screen that flashed across his entire set up nearly made his heart skip a beat.

"What the hell?!"

Nex swore softly to himself as he was surprised, he typed on the keyboards but he could not bring his screens back up. In the next moment Nex stopped as his eye's caught a white text at the top of his screen, it appeared out of nowhere like someone was typing directly into his computer.

-They will find you Nex. Your not safe, you have made yourself a target. They are coming.

Nex cocked his head at the screen trying to figure out what the hell that even meant, turning his head a set of flashing lights appeared outside his apartment window. Nex quickly went to the window and looked down, there was a police cruiser outside and a cop was making his way into the builder. Oh shit... how the hell had they found him?! His hacks were untraceable and this quickly at that. Nex returned to his computers quickly with the intention of deleting all the files however the word Run was flashing across his screen in big bold letters. Nex had no choice reaching forward he clicked a couple keys in specific order an his entire system started to spark and sizzle. The next thing anyone knew the door to Nex's apartment was busted open as the cops came inside armed, but they found nothing but smoking computers and an open window.

"Tracer you got an exit lined up for me?"

"Yes but we have a problem, the one we were trying to find, Nex, he apparently found you first and tried to aid your escape. The sentinels received the information and sent NYPD to apprehend him. I alerted him in time but how long until they find him we can't be sure."

"There is nothing more we can do at this time Tracer, we will formulate a plan once I am out of the Matrix. Wheres my extraction point?"

"5th avenue, there is an old hardware store, 45930, phone is prepped and ready. Local police already found your empty vehicle, looks like Nex's little distraction helped after all."

"Got it. See you soon."

Reaper quickly typed in the location into the device on his arm, the glasses over his face turned on and came to life displaying a small street layout along with distance and exact location of his exit point. Looking forward from the building he was standing on he took a few steps back and then ran forward, letting his foot hit the edge of the building he jumped high into the air and crossed the one hundred foot gap and easily landed on the next building. With a couple more leaps he was soon right near the old hardware store, scaling the nearby fire escape Reaper swung down to street level and quickly entered in the store busting open the side entrance. He could hear the ringing from the back, he quickly found the phone and picked it up putting it to his ear just in time to see Campbell standing in front of him. The bullet left the chamber of the large caliber gun and struck the phone as it still floated in the air for just a moment then it dropped to the floor in two pieces.

Campbell approached the destroyed phone as he looked down at it, two other agents came to his side.

"Escaped again did he? This is becoming quite agitating I can imagine, it does not matter though the one they were tracing, we have identified him as Edward Allen, a hacker who goes by the name Nex. He helped him to escape, we sent a unit to pick him up."

"Make sure he is brought straight to me, I tire of these games."


	2. Chapter 1 Old friends and new enemies

**Chapter 1**

 **Old friends an new enemies**

"Tracer I need an update on Nex's current situation, what happened after you warned him?"

Reaper stepped onto the bridge of his ship an quickly took a seat in the nearby chair, pulling a chorus of screens over from the side he lined up with them and quickly began to type into the keyboard.

"He ran Captain, I traced him for a time but he disappeared within the core network and I lost track of him he was heading into the downtown area. Last spotted on the corner of 9th and Leonard Avenue. Whiz compiled the data and gave us just enough time to warn him, thankfully that woman is the fastest hacker I have ever seen."

Reaper listened silently as his fingers careened the keyboard, the code in front of him changed several times as his eye's surveyed it. He could not trace Nex while he was in the core network, there was far to much interference for them to cut through. Reaper sighed knowing that Agent Campbell would be after Nex, but for what reasons was the question. Was he aware that they were searching for him or did they merely want to acquire as to why he helped him escape the police. They would kill him if they found out they were trying to extract him from the Matrix. Reaper rubbed his eye's wearily as he saw doubles for a moment, he had not slept in a couple days and it was wearing on him.

"Your not going to find him if your tired you know knucklehead"

Reaper smiled and rolled his eye's as he pushed the consoles aside and saw his wife standing in the entrance way, even to his tired eye's the long blue haired green eyed woman with all the perfect curves looked like a goddess among woman. Reaper got up silently from the chair and walked to Whiz, they both embraced each other one holding more tightly then the other. For as rough and tough as Whiz was she always felt a twinge of fear when he entered the Matrix. He didn't blame her, even an Elite Hacker could die at any moment and they both feared that more then anything, especially for each other.

"Tracer keep searching for Nex, I want to know the moment you get a beat on his location. We need to move quickly if were going to extract him within the next twenty four hours. I am going to get some rest, as usual Whiz is right I am exhausted."

"You got it Captain."

Reaper allowed Whiz to drag him away from the bridge, soon they were in their private quarters. No sooner had the door closed then did Whiz grab Reaper and embrace him again this time pressing her soft lips to his in a passionate kiss. Reaper sat back on the edge of the bed as he dragged her down with him, her body was shaking. As the kiss ended way too soon Reaper kicked off his boots pulling himself back into the bed, Whiz followed him as they lay side by side, her head now resting on his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her as she held on to him.

"Whats the matter Lee? Why are you shaking so much? I am okay you know, you know me, superman of the Matrix."

Reaper joked with a small smile as he could feel her shaking lessen, she didn't answer the question she knew he already knew. She never said it but him going into the Matrix scared her, especially lately, he had been in an out of the Matrix multiple times within the passing days looking for a hacker named Nex. She was so tough, tougher then any woman he had ever meant before, she knew hell and she walked through it more times then he could count. But truth was Reaper was an Elite Hacker which meant it was his responsibility to enter the Matrix, he was one of the only ones capable of facing an Agent if things went sour. So far he had been able to avoid a fight with Campbell, but luck only ran so far and even he was risking life if he squared off with an Agent. It was one thing to be able to fight toe to toe with an Agent it was another to win that fight.

"Do you thinks it true Seeley, that this man could be the one we have been looking for? Is it even possible that this entire search could be worth something."

"I don't know baby, I truly don't. Once upon a time a man came from the Matrix who gave us peace even though it didn't last and now another one has been foreseen. I can only hope that he is, and that he is real, I know that none of this has been easy on you, so many trips into the Matrix. But I am here, I won't let myself be taken from you, your my inspiration, you mean everything to me. Nothing, not even an Agent will stop me from being with you."

Reaper spoke the words softly as Lee looked up at him, he looked back at her with a smile on his face, no matter the trouble, no matter how bad the day, everything melted away with just one glance into her eye's.

"You remember the first time we meant Seeley?"

"Of course, I could never forget the day my life changed. You were a waitress by day and a hacker by night, the mighty Whiz. I remember almost making you wet yourself too huh."

"You did not!"

Seeley chuckled as Lee gave him a playful hit, he was glad to see her smiling again.

 **Six years prior. . .**

"Mrs. Kanker you have a customer, get off your laptop and go serve him uh?"

Lee rolled her eye's as her boss yelled at her to go serve a customer, she wanted to just deck him in the damn mouth, his voice was that annoying to her. Five years in this dumpy ass diner was enough to make her want to shut off the power grid to the entire city just so she would have a reason not to come in to work. Lee flipped the laptop lid down as she grabbed the nearby menu from the pile and put on her best I give a shit about you look and walked down out into the front. She looked around silently, the place was completely empty, hell it was eight at night so who needed to eat out anyway. When her eye's spotted him she nearly dropped the menu from under her arm. The man was sitting in the corner decked all in black, he looked a hell of a lot like an FBI or CIA Agent or some shit aside from that leather coat anyways. But even more then that he was drop dead good looking, well not any more so then other guys but this one made her want to do double takes.

"Come on Lee for god sakes he is just like any other guy so stop drooling."

Lee chastised herself under her breath as she composed and made her way over to the man in black. As she got close the man looked up at her, he neither smiled nor frowned it was like some kind of I care but at the same time I don't care kind of look.

"Um Welcome to the Three Pointer Diner, my name is Lee and um what are you doing there?"

Lee couldn't help herself as she came around the table an noticed the laptop in front of the man, her eye's grazed the screen and she a bunch of weird code on the screen which she couldn't make heads or tails off. It looked like some kind of binary code but what kind was bringing a blank to mind. The man slowly closed the lid of the laptop as she quickly realized she had sort of spied on him. She went to grab the men from her arm but she missed it and it fluttered to the floor. Damn it Lee your not a school girl anymore. She quickly scolded herself silently in her head as she bent down to pick up the menu, however when a large gloved hand suddenly grabbed hers instead of the menu it was going for she quickly reared up in surprise and the smack came out of nowhere. Before she knew it her hand was stinging like she had been stung by a bunch of bee's and a hand print was now on the mans cheek. Oh no she had over reacted, she quickly looked back but the owner was thankfully no where to see what she had done.

"Sir I am so sorry I um, I will uh, um, I will pay for your meal, I am sorry please don't tell anyone about this."

Lee was stuttering like a scolded child, the great and powerful hacker Whiz babbling like a little scared school girl over a five dollar an hour job under the table. When she finally managed to look up, actually look at the man he was smiling, the sudden laugh threw her off guard as he pulled off the sunglasses and set them on the table revealing a set of gorgeous steel blue eye's. The fact that she smacked him didn't even seem to be registering to him at this point.

"You got a hell of smack there Whiz, I have to admit that actually did sting just a little bit. I was hoping our first meeting wouldn't be so violent but then again it seems to be a constant thing with me."

Lee gave the man a questioning glare, she knew she never had seen him before and he knew her name, the thought struck her again that perhaps this man was CIA or something, which if this was the case then she didn't know what the hell she was going to do.

"No I don't work for an agency and I am not here to arrest you."

Did this dude just read her damn mind?! This was just getting weirder by the second, at the same time she was also drawn in, her instinct was to get far away, but her feet wouldn't move. There was something about this man, something not normal, yet she felt as if she needed to be here at this exact moment.

"I didn't come here tonight to reveal I am a stalker, which I am positive in some part of your mind is the explanation, no I came here tonight because I know things about you, important things. Please sit, I promise I am no danger to you."

"Kanker! Are you taking that mans order or are you just standing there running your damn mouth!? I swear if this is another one of your friends on your work hours."

Lee rolled her eye's as her fat pudgy boss made his way into view, he was a dumpy little Italian man with a balding head covered in a greasy hairnet and a dirty apron covering years worth of beer belly and other various things no one wanted to see. Lee could hear his heavy footsteps behind her approaching, she looked at the man at the table, he gave her an amused look as her boss came around the side of the table.

"Can you be helped or are you just here to socialize with my lazy employees, if that's the case then this is not a public library and you need to leave."

Lee was silent as she looked between the man and her boss, she was imagining that someone was about to get shot in the next couple moments for some odd reason. As if on cue of her thoughts the man in black reached down and pulled his coat aside revealing a Beretta 92 strapped to his side in a leather holster. To her relief and at the same time dismay he reached into an inner coat pocket and removed a wad of bills, a rather large wad of 100's.

"I will tell you what Luciano, if you close down your diner for the night and leave I will give you this stack of money as compensation, I am sure you could find something useful to do with ten thousand dollars in cash yes?"

Lee was taken aback that the man seemed to know her bosses name and even more so his weakness for money at the same time. How the hell did he know some much about them and they virtually knew nothing about him. Lee quickly shot her boss a look as his eye's were glued on the money, he said nothing as he reached forward and took it off the table. He peered at it closely and flicked the hundreds between his fingers and then looked back at the man in black.

"You got a deal man in black. Stay as long as you like."

Lee watched in shock as her boss tossed his apron and hairnet behind the counter and then exit his own diner flipping the sign to closed before disappearing into the night. Letting her eye's come back to the man at the table, he had his hand up offering for her to take a seat, her flight response was active again but she accepted the offer and sat down, there was nothing wrong with seeing what he wanted right?

"Lee my time is short and very soon there will be company in here looking for me, they are no doubt pinpointing my location as we speak. I came here tonight to meet you and only you, I have watched you for a time now and I know that you feel like you don't belong in this world. You sit up on a computer night after night hacking not because it brings to you money or happiness but because for some reason you feel that its what your suppose to be doing. You can't explain it but your looking for something, it gnaws at the back of your mind like a memory you can't recall. An when you feel so close, like your onto a break through you wake up in your bed with no recollection how you got there. You live alone, you have no real friends, you love nobody because inside you feel that those connections are pointless and you don't know why. I want to offer you answers, I want to show you why you feel... alone in this world. I can not force you to come with me nor would I, but I am giving you a chance to learn the truth. If you decide that you want to know, then meet me at the one place where you feel safest tomorrow night at midnight, if you desire not to then you will never see me again I promise, no hard feelings."

Lee had no chance to even ask who he was, the moment she blinked her eye's the man in black was just gone from the booth in front of her like some sort of ghost. Lee looked around quietly but she was completely alone.

 **Current day. . .**

"Captain? Captain? Wake up sir we found him."

Seeley opened his eye's as the world seemed to mash together for a couple moments before Tracer came into view. Seeley looked beside himself, Lee was resting peacefully still in his arms safe and sound from the world.

"You found him, how long has it been Tracer?"

"Its been about six hours Sir, you might want to hurry, Nex has been caught by the local police and they are holding him."

Seeley was in the chair in front of the computer screens, he rubbed his eye's as he quickly got himself a visual of Nex's location. From what he saw Nex was being held in the NYPD Precinct on Maple and 6th street, there were no Agents present which either meant they were on their way or they did not know yet that Nex had been apprehended, either way that left them with an very short window of opportunity.

"We need to get him out of there Tracer, if I know protocol then the Agents are going to be notified of his capture, have there been any calls relating to Nex's capture sent out over the lines?"

"No sir he was just brought in, I took the liberty of hacking the phone system so all lines of communication are routed to a dispatch program. It probably won't last forever but it will give us some time to come up with a plan."

"Get Tank, Code, Whiz and Wolveric up here, I think its time that we pay a little visit to the New York Police Department."

Seeley stood silently before the men and woman in front of him, all of them were bug eye'd and just fresh from sleep. They looked like a rather rag tag group of misfits, all of them but in reality they were one of the best teams Zion had to get work done. Tank the behemoth of their group, a rather large black man whom was as nice as a kitten and as dangerous as a Agent when riled up. Code the little brown haired mouse of the group, small enough to not look like a threat but one of the best infiltration hackers this side of Zion. Wolveric the oldest member of their crew, a rough and tough salt and pepper haired man with an intelligence that scared all of Zion and anyone who crossed him. An of course Whiz the most lethal blue haired woman alive and one of the fastest hackers in existence and one of the fastest triggers in the Matrix itself. An of course Tracer, Tanks older brother the one who got the brain over brawn the most integral part of their group, the one who kept the ship alive and Seeleys co-Captain. Misfits all of them but people Seeley would trust with his life ten times over.

"Ok were all here, today were going to be paying a visit to the NYPD, the man we have been searching for is currently being held in a cell in the west portion of the station awaiting interrogation from most likely the Agents. I can not impress to you how much this can not happen, the Agents already know, Im positive, that Nex is someone were trying to extract from the Matrix and even more so I believe they know how important he is to us so they will not keep him alive. Tracer has implemented a program to keep the knowledge that Nex is in custody from the Agents but this will not last long. Equally if we go in guns blazing we will definitely draw the attention of Campbell and his cronies. For obvious reasons I can't go with you to the Police station, my face is too well known but your faces are not, which is why I will be holding back at our base of operation in poor town, which means it will be up to you four to get Nex out safely."

"So whats the plan Cap?"

Code spoke up in his usual quick quirky way.

"Infiltration is our plan, three of you will be dressing up as police officers, Tracer has already got us set up with uniforms and badges. Three of you will be escorting our lovable behemoth tank into the police station in cuffs, this will give you ample opportunity to not only get in but go to the cell blocks as well."

"Aw come on Captain why do I got to be the one to go in handcuffs, I mean I know im dangerously sexy but we don't need to arrest me for it."

There was a quick chorus of oh pleases and a bunch of rolled eye's as Seeley smacked his face with his hand while Tank grinned to everyone.

"Yes Tank were arresting you so we can put that sexy face behind bars for good, and also your a big man so three police officers won't look suspicious bringing you in. Now we have already surveyed the police station, there is only one guard in the cell blocks so it should not be too hard to take care of him without suspicion, Tracer is going to feed a loop into the security camera's so no one catches wind of our prison bust. The cell block guard will have the keys to the cell, he is being held in the last row on the right side, he is the only one there at the moment so there shouldn't be any trouble. But as we all know trouble comes looking for us so I don't want you taking any unnecessary action unless you have to. Tank this means you specifically, keep your sexy ass in line an I won't have them keep you in a cell until we come to pick you up later."

"Im a teddy bear captain, you know that."

"Yeah a teddy bear with a chain gun is more like it, hug me and I will blast off your nipples."

There was another small chorus of laughter as everyone was in a rather jovial mood given the task at hand. Seeley turned to Tracer who gave him a thumbs up, everything was set. Each one of them walked to the circle of beat up chairs in the next room adjacent to the bridge an lay down. Seeley walked over to Lee's and enveloped her hand in his with a reaffirming smile. When Seeley heard the deep kissing noises he turned to see Tank making kisses towards him, the others chuckled as Seeley walked over to Tanks chair and bound his arms down with the restraints really tightly.

"Try not to fight too much this time Tank the last time you got in a scuffle you nearly broke the chair and Zion doesn't have enough metal to keep supporting your big ass."

There was another outbreak of laughter as Seeley went to his chair and Tracer came over to secure him in. Soon all of them were standing in a large darkened room, a few stray lamp lite it up revealing a few tables and some scattered chairs. Seeley put his finger to his ear and pressed on the headset.

"Were in."

Nex sat silently within the cell his eye's glued to the floor, his body shook a little more from the cold then being scared. He had been on the run for hours before they finally cornered him in a cyber cafe, not exactly his most brilliant move but he figured that just maybe Reaper knew he had helped him and that he might in return do the same. But he was coming to the conclusion that wasn't going to happen, what was he going to do break into a fully armed police department and just break him out? No Nex was screwed and he knew it, there was no way he would be able to explain his computers frying themselves without vindicating himself, he may have saved himself like a hundred years or so in prison but hacking now and days was worth more prison time then it had ever been before.

"Quit pushing me you damn pigs!"

Nex looked up silently as he heard a really deep voice scream out from somewhere down the hall of cells, he silently got up and walked to the bars. He looked out as far as he could, the guard at the desk had his back turned to him listening to the commotion going on outside the door.

"Get him to the cells so he can cool off! Make sure you don't put him in with the hacker, if he ends up hurting him I will never hear the end of it!"

As Nex watched the door to the cells opened and a huge muscular black man who had to be at least over six and half feet tall walked in all be it nearly getting jammed in the door. Nex had never in his life seen such a huge man before, he was thanking the god he didn't even believe in that they were not putting the monstrosity in his cell. As the big man moved aside three officers followed him in, he counted two males and then the third was a blue haired... Nex moved his face close to the bars enough that it hurt as he tried to get a good look at the female officer. It couldn't be who he thought it was, there was no way that the female officer was her. She was older now, definitely older but there was no mistaking it that was Lee Kanker, a friend from his childhood who disappeared years ago. She was a cop.. in New York City?

"Okay big guy lets go to the cells and lets make it easy on yourself huh? No need to make this any worse then it has to be."

The cop behind the desk got up quietly as he grabbed the set of prison keys, Lee and the two other officers closed the door behind themselves and followed the big guy along with the desk cop. In the next second like a flash the desk cop was on the ground unconscious, the big mans hand slowly releasing from around his throat and the other cops merely watching silently. Nex rubbed his eye's thinking that he was seeing things, when and how the hell had any of that happened?! He was watching them with his own eye's and he did not even see them do anything.

"Tank put him in one of the empty cells, Code, Wolveric keep an eye on the door and make sure we don't have company."

Nex listened silently as he was still trying to piece together what was going on here, the three cops, they were working with the big guy, Tank they called him and the others Code and Wolveric, and that voice it had to be Lee, a little older but still Lee, none of this made any sense!

Lee grabbed the cell keys from the floor and approached Nex's cell she could see him peaking out from the bars, it wasn't until she fully came in front of the cell that her eye's became surprised.

"Double D... your Nex? I don't believe it, when I saw the name I never imagined it was you.. your the hacker who helped Reaper escape.."

Lee went silent as she absent mindedly opened the cell door, Edd walked out of the cell, his eye's seemed to be filled with confusion of his own as they both looked at each other, up and down trying to figure out what they had missed in the last five years. The nostalgia was short lived however when the headset in Lee's ears went off.

"Whiz we have Agent activity outside the station, you need to get out of there immediately. I count three Agents, repeat three Agents are approaching the front of the building."

"Shit... Code, Tank, Wolveric we need to move now we have Agents entering the building. Double... Nex we need to move now come with me if you don't want to die."

Lee hissed the commands as she pulled Nex away from the cell and walked to the back of the cell block, Code, Tank and Wolveric followed. Pulling up the sleeve on her uniform Lee typed into the device attached quickly. A small portion of the concrete wall in front of them suddenly changed colors going from a drab gray to a sickly white. Without hesitation Tank stepped up and with one strong blow he knocked the wall away like it was nothing. In the next moments Agent Campbell would enter the cell block only to find a smashed wall and knocked out guard.

"Damn it."

Nex sat in the black sedan as he looked out the tinted windows, the world passed by so fast yet it seemed like it had stopped moving for him. To say that nothing made sense was an understatement, hell it was THE understatement of the entire century, his entire life. He diverted his eye's to Lee whom was driving as he tried to figure out who she really was now, when she had mentioned the name Reaper it became clear that she must work with him but when, how, where. The last thing he knew about Lee before she disappeared was that she was a waitress at a crummy diner. They had kept contact at least through texts and online but one day she just disappeared and he never really knew what had happened to her.

"Were here come on."

Nex looked out the window again to see a large abandoned house, he was guessing it was the end of the line at this point as everyone got out, confused and shaken Nex slowly let his feet hit the old cracked concrete and he followed the group of men and Lee up the stairs and into the old house. They walked the long hallway, slowly the other men broke off from the hallway disappearing into separate locations until it was just Lee and Nex standing in front of a large door. She turned and looked at him, he felt like he had so much to say to her, to ask but for some reason he knew it wasn't the right time.

"The man you have been searching for is through this door Nex, a word of advice, be honest with him, he knows many things."

Lee reached forward and unlocked the door, there was various clicks of locks that did not seem to be possible on such a small door. Lee then turned walked down the hallway disappearing into a nearby room leaving Nex standing there. Taking a deep breath Nex gripped the door knob and opened the door, slowly walking inside a man dressed in full black and sunglasses sat in a chair in the center of the room in front of a desk with various monitors on it. The man behind the desk slowly raised his hand in the air and moved it sideways, the door behind Nex suddenly closed with a click as he jumped a little from the sudden noise behind him. When he turned back the man was in front of him as if he teleported to him without a sound. Nex took a few steps back quickly as the man smiled at him.

"Welcome Nex I am Reaper and it is a pleasure to finally make your aquaintance."


End file.
